Columbus, Ohio (CNN) - President Barack Obama formally opened his re-election bid Saturday with two rallies in which he highlighted accomplishments over his three and a half years in the White House and argued that America can't afford to adopt Republicans' "bad ideas."

"We are making progress and now we face a choice," said the president, at his first rally at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus. "This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and we can't turn back now."